Thank you very much for reviews and suggestions. It took me quite a long
time to write the next chapter and it's finally ready. Let me know, what
you think.
Chapter 2
Cole and Nicole were sitting in one of the DLM meeting rooms surrounded by tons of paperwork. The deal they've been working on was finally coming together. And after a brainstorming meeting this morning they managed to finalise the last details. Now it was way past lunch time and they were happy to have a short break with sandwiches and coffee.
The half demon stretched his back and pushed away the contract they were going through.
"I am sick of this deal," he complained. "And this bloody vampire coven is the most boring bunch I've ever seen."
Nicole smiled at him, "Of course, they are all men. You much more preferred to deal with this Italian investor woman."
He shot her a mockingly annoyed look, "You are not the one to talk. I personally heard Clark saying that when he's negotiating the next big deal he wants you there because of the way you charmed the Head of Delway Enterprises so he was eating out of your hands and signed that ridiculous contract."
Nicole's eyes sparkled dangerously, "Clark is just a sexist pig," she shot angrily, "and you, mister, are walking on very thin ice."
Cole shot her a teasing look and chuckled, "No, I am not. Who do you think messed up Clark's paperwork so he looked like a complete idiot during the last management meeting?"
"It was you?" Nicole uttered in disbelief.
"Well, I had to make sure that he could not steal my negotiating partner. Can't take any risks," his eyes swept over her and the intensity of his gaze made her body ignite.
"You are..." she whispered giving him a stern look and blushing at the same time.
He shot her a bright smile but it did not fade the desire in his eyes. Nicole shook her head to stop herself from falling under the power of his eyes.
"Stop it," she said shooting a stream of cold air into his face. "We need to finish this and we need to talk about other things." She gave him a meaningful look.
Cole closed his eyes for a moment. He did not know what was going on with him, but whenever he saw Nicole the only thing he wanted to do was to take her to some uninhabited island where they'd be away from the whole world. He took a deep breath and tried to get his thoughts back to work.
"Well, this contract is pretty much done," he said in a business tone. "So I think we should concentrate on other things. I did not enjoy Vladimir showing up in the Penthouse at seven in the morning enquiring about our progress. I think Lugels are getting impatient."
Nicole nodded, "Did you notice that he looked a bit..." she paused trying to find the right word, "anxious?"
Cole thought about it for a moment. "Yes, I had a feeling that he was completely stressed out when he blurred in. But then he came down and when he was asking all these questions he seemed to be not that worried about the answers."
"Anyway," Nicole pushed away her thoughts about Vladimir's strange behaviour away. "I think our next step should be with Leo. We need to get this part of the plan moving since I don't think your mother needs a lot of help!?"
Cole gave her displeased look, "If anything my mother needs to be kept an eye on. But I agree at the moment Leo is a priority," he scowled.
Nicole smiled, "You are not very keen on working with him?"
He gave her unhappy look, "I just know it's going to be a real pain. Leo used to be a nice guy and you could work with him. But ever since Prue died and especially after the whole Source story he became very subdued and lost all will power. He just trails behind the Charmed sisters and does whatever the Elders tell him."
"So what are we going to do?" Nicole asked seriously.
"I think all we can do is to talk to him. But I suggest you do most of the talking. Leo is extremely prejudiced against me. And if I open my mouth he is going to go onto the defensive and surround himself with spikes like a porcupine."
Nicole could not contain a chuckle, her imagination painting a vivid picture of the porcupine with Leo's face. She tried to sober up and asked, "Do you want me to go alone?"
"No," he shot with a speed of the bullet. "It's not safe for you to go alone."
Nicole gave him an annoyed look, "He is just a whitelighter, Cole. He can't really do anything to me."
The half demon's face remained serious, "Anybody can be a threat and Leo is not just a whitelighter, he's a Charmed Ones whitelighter," he said sternly. "We are going together, no discussions."
Nicole knew that it was pointless arguing with him. Part of her was touched by his concern. And another part was slightly annoyed that he did not trust her to do things on her own. But she did not want to pick a fight. Since they got back together last Sunday she was so overwhelmingly happy and she was well aware how fragile this happiness was.
"Fine," she answered curtly. "But we need to find a way to talk to Leo without the Charmed Ones or the Elders knowing and even suspecting anything."
Cole thought about it for a moment, "We need to get him when he's with one of his charges," he suggested. "The Elders would think he's been called by a witch, so would the Charmed Ones and we can talk to him freely."
"Sounds good," Nicole nodded approvingly, "but it would be better if it was somewhere abroad. Further away from the Halliwells. Do you know if Leo has any charges somewhere in Europe?"
"England," he answered straight away. "Leo definitely has a charge in London. I heard him complaining about the weather there."
"I am not surprised," Nicole smiled wryly. "You, Californians, are completely spoiled with the amount of sunshine you get."
"Or don't tell me that you would prefer London's weather," he retorted smiling, "I know you like sunshine otherwise you wouldn't be nagging me every evening to go for a walk to the beach?"
Nicole gave him a foul look and said, hiding a smile, "Okay, back to reality. How do we find Leo's charge? There are eight million people in London."
"You can read Leo's mind like you did it before. Then we'll get to the witch and convince her to call Leo."
"That's sounds like a good plan," Nicole nodded approvingly.
Cole's mouth twisted into a sarcastic smile, "According to the Powers to Be it's more of an evil plan."
In the afternoon Leo Wyatt was summoned to the Elder's Council. He orbed straight away and then had to wait for a while before they were ready to talk to him. There were a few other whitelighters waiting. The two of them Leo did not know. One was a woman in her late forties with dark hair and grey eyes. She had a very distant look and just nodded in response to his greeting. The man who stood not far from her was the same age as Leo and had blond hair and dark eyes. His head was bowed but his alert eyes were scanning the surroundings. Something in his manner of looking from under his eyebrows looked familiar to Leo but he could not remember where from. But whitelighter did not have time to muse over it, the Elders were ready to talk to him.
Shortly after Leo was summoned into the Council chambers the two whitelighters orbed out from the waiting hall. They reappeared in the luxury Penthouse. But instead of the dark haired woman who left the Elders realm, it was Nicole Berg who arrived to the Penthouse, and the blond haired man regained dark hair and piercing blue eyes belonging to Cole Turner.
"That was fun," Cole grimaced. "Now I understand Leo much better. If he has to spend so much time in such a sterile and boring atmosphere, no wonder, his mind has turned the same way. At least the Underworld was fun, with all the flames, caverns and darkness. "
Nicole grinned, "It's just your wicked mind," she told him trying to sound serious. "It does not allow you to appreciate the tranquillity of the Elders realm."
In response to her word Cole just laughed, "Oh, don't give me that," he said still chuckling. "You could not be faster in getting out of there. It's lucky that you don't have to become the Head Elder. You would be bored out of your brain being stuck there for months. Plus you would have to wear that dull white robe all day long and knowing your taste I can safely say it would have driven you up the wall."
"Watch it, Turner," Nicole gave him a warning look. "Because I can start commenting on the number of designer shirts in your wardrobe and it's way more than any self respecting heterosexual male could admit to."
The last word just escaped her mouth when she found herself being pressed against the wall. His mouth came down on hers and she completely lost herself in the passionate kiss, her hands wrapped around his shoulders. They broke apart almost gasping for air. "I don't think you are the one to doubt my sexual orientation," he whispered hoarsely, his lips just a millimetre away from her neck so his hot breath made her body shiver with desire. For a moment they both stared at each other and then a warm smile touched her lips. He replied with the same smile and gently kissed her cheek reluctantly pulling away from her.
Leo Wyatt just got home from his meeting with the Elders. They were again going on about the massive surge of powers that happened in front of the Penthouse two weeks ago. Leo was tired from this endless conversation. The Elders still did not know what it was and as far as he could see they had no way of finding out. Several times Leo suggested that they should try to find it out from Cole using some truth telling potion. But the Elders were completely against it as if they harboured some utterly irrational fear of him. Instead they insisted that the Charmed Ones look through the whole Book of Shadows trying to find power amplifying spells. Leo was summoned every day to report on the progress and he was getting completely fed up with it.
He was deep in these gloomy musings when he got home. He saw Piper standing in front of the cooker with a wooden spoon in her hand. Her belly started to really show and to Leo she never looked more beautiful in her life. When she heard the sound of his orbs she turned around and smiled at him. He gave her a kiss and breathed in the tasty smell of her cooking. He was really looking forward to a nice meal. Suddenly he heard the call of one of his charges and could not stop himself from cursing silently. So much for a nice meal and a quiet evening.
Piper knew the look on her husband's face. She was disappointed but not surprised when he gave her apologetic smile, "I am sorry, honey, I have to go. But I'll try be as soon as I can, promise."
She nodded and he orbed out. Piper returned to her cooking. Her face now expressing feelings the complete opposite of the calmness she radiated just a minute ago.
Leo orbed into his charge's apartment, "Helen," he called out and stopped mid sentence staring at two people in front of him.
"Hi Leo," Nicole greeted him calmly sitting in the comfortable chair next to the fireplace.
The whitelighter gaped at her and then turned to his ex brother-in-law who was looming on the mantel piece. "What did you do to her?" Leo demanded angrily directing his question to Cole, whose relaxed posture made Leo wish that he possessed at least some powers of his charges.
"She's just asleep on the couch in the next room," Nicole replied gently. "You can check if you want," she suggested, "she's your charge after all."
Leo concentrated for a moment. When he was sure enough that Helen was unharmed he turned to the couple in front of him and gave them a hard stare, "So what are you doing here?"
Nicole smiled, "We came to talk to you," she explained politely. "And we wanted to do it away from your family and your bosses, which made this place perfect."
"We have nothing to talk about," Leo snarled, his anger rising from the confidence, which these two radiated.
"Oh, yes, we do," Nicole disagreed. "And I think you should sit down because it will be a long talk."
The whitelighter hesitated.
"Leo," Nicole spoke up again. "I know there is a wide gap between us and you have many reservations. But we would not have come here without a very good reason. Important not only for us but for you as well."
Her voice sounded very sincere and under her steady gaze he set down in the chair shooting a weary glance towards Cole who so far had not said a word.
"Good," Nicole smiled. "What we are going to tell you is very secret and you have to promise that you won't tell anybody, even the Charmed Ones or your bosses."
"I will not promise anything like that," Leo shot.
"You have to," she insisted calmly. "There is too much at stake here and we can't risk you telling anybody. I can promise you that what I will tell you is not going to harm your family in any way or the Elders."
"How do I know you are not lying?" he asked warily.
His suspiciousness started to annoy her but she could not let him notice it. Nicole took a deep breath, "You'll just have to trust me," she replied simply. "I don't want to threaten you, Leo. It's not why we came here. But I have to tell you that I not only can read people's minds but also manipulate them and I can make sure that you won't remember a word from this conversation."
He stared at her with hateful eyes. Nicole inwardly sighed. It was not going well. It seemed that Leo hated not only Cole but everybody who was connected to him, in a true Halliwell style.
"Look, Leo," she continued, "Of course you can refuse to talk to us. But believe me you don't want this burden on your conscious. You are not risking lives by not telling anybody about our conversation. On the opposite you can save many lives by listening to us."
The whitelighter just sat there. Part of him wanted to orb out but the one look at his ex brother-in-law told him that he probably wouldn't be able to do it. Plus by staying he might be able to find out something about this surge of powers the Elders were so concerned about.
"I am listening," he said coldly, indicating that he agreed to their condition but it did not make him like them any better.
Cole had to concentrate really hard to hide the smile looking at Leo trying to hold his own against Nicole.
"Great," she nodded. "Then I'll start from the beginning. We are working for the Lugels. Have you heard about them?"
Leo's face turned pale and he stared at her in disbelief.
"I see you have," Nicole commented calmly. "As you probably know the Lugels' main aim is to protect the magic world from exposure and to maintain the balance of powers between good and evil. At the moment the magic world faces probably the greatest threat in all its history: the total extinction due to the efficiency, with which opposite sides have been killing each other. We've been hired to negotiate a peace deal between the good and the evil and this way to prevent further bloodshed. And we would like you to help us to achieve this goal."
Cole thoroughly enjoyed watching the whitelighter's expression changing from surprised to total shock then disbelief and at the end becoming completely confused. When Nicole finished it took Leo a long time to recover his ability to talk. He shook his head and said in a shaky voice. "This is ridiculous. At the moment with the Underworld in chaos the good finally has a chance to take an upper hand and defeat the evil forever."
Both Cole and Nicole rolled their eyes and the latter exclaimed, "Common, Leo, you cannot be serious. To defeat evil! You must know it's impossible. The good and the evil will always exist and one cannot defeat the other. And as long as they are in balance there will be no threat to the world. But if the balance is broken, that's when the real danger starts. The world is like a large old clock with evil on the left side and good on the right side. The further away the pendulum moves from the centre towards one of these sides, the further back it would swing next. And if the fluctuations are too large the clock will simply break. It would mean a complete chaos for the magic world. And very quickly the chaos will spread into the mortal world, completely ruining it."
She paused and Leo shook his head, "I don't know where you get these ideas," he finally said. "But even if all you told me is true, you should be talking about it with the Elders, not with me."
His words made Cole lose his patience, "For God's sakes, Leo," he said sternly, "stop being such a wimp. You can't just wallow in your guilt for the rest of your life because you could not safe Prue or prevent the whole Source fiasco. You need to move on and start taking responsibility for your actions. Become the true guardian angel, who is not scared to think for himself."
Leo's face reddened, "Well, at least some of us are able to feel guilt," he yelled standing up so his face was right in front of Cole. "I know that for you it's a totally unknown feeling. After everything you've done, all the blood and broken hearts on your hands! If you had any good in you, you would just have stayed dead."
Cole's eyes turned into two pieces of ice, "At least I have the courage to face my past and move on. But you and your precious charges will always hide your heads in the sand, blaming everybody but themselves for anything bad happening in your lives. Well, at least I am not your scapegoat anymore."
Leo's fist clenched and he tried to punch the half demon. But the latter just side stepped him and instead of Cole's face whitelighter's hand came in direct touch with the wall. The next moment Leo found himself back in the chair, Nicole Berg standing in front of him. She looked annoyed, "That's enough," she said sternly. "You don't trust us, that's fine. I expected that. But you seemed to completely lack the capacity to listen. And this leaves me no choice. I did not want to tell you this. Since I believe nobody deserves to live with such knowledge on their conscience. But your stupid stubbornness forces me to do it. I told you that helping us would not harm your family, actually quite the opposite. Well, now you'll see the proof of that for yourself."
She grabbed Leo's hand and the next moment he was drawn into what could only be a very powerful premonition. He saw the attic in the Halliwell Manor. Piper, Paige and Phoebe, all of them looking in their late forties were sitting around the Book of Shadows. A figure dressed in black hooded robe appeared in front of them. The three women looked horrified, they started chanting and several ghosts appeared behind them, in which he recognised the dead witches from the Halliwell line. The hooded figure started to glow and the next moment it raised both hands and the whole house started to shake. A large beam fell on Paige's head knocking her out. The ghosts disappeared and then the house collapsed in one massive explosion. The hooded figure hovered above the ruins for a moment and then disappeared in a swirl of blue lights. The whitelighter gasped and the image was replaced by another vision. He saw himself dressed in the Elder's robe, sitting among the remains of the house, his hands clasped around a lifeless body of a woman. The moon came out from behind the cloud and he could see her face. This time Leo could not take it. He twitched and pulled his hand out of Nicole's grasp. He buried his face in his hands. "Oh, no, not her, not Piper," he sobbed.
"I am sorry you had to see this Leo," Nicole voice sounded sympathetically.
"Who the hell was it?" the whitelighter lifted his head. "Who is this demon who is going to kill her?"
For a second Nicole paused, not wanting to deliver the final blow. Then she reminded herself what was at stake here, she gathered her strength and said quietly, "It will be your son, Leo. The one who'll be born in less than three months."
Chapter 2
Cole and Nicole were sitting in one of the DLM meeting rooms surrounded by tons of paperwork. The deal they've been working on was finally coming together. And after a brainstorming meeting this morning they managed to finalise the last details. Now it was way past lunch time and they were happy to have a short break with sandwiches and coffee.
The half demon stretched his back and pushed away the contract they were going through.
"I am sick of this deal," he complained. "And this bloody vampire coven is the most boring bunch I've ever seen."
Nicole smiled at him, "Of course, they are all men. You much more preferred to deal with this Italian investor woman."
He shot her a mockingly annoyed look, "You are not the one to talk. I personally heard Clark saying that when he's negotiating the next big deal he wants you there because of the way you charmed the Head of Delway Enterprises so he was eating out of your hands and signed that ridiculous contract."
Nicole's eyes sparkled dangerously, "Clark is just a sexist pig," she shot angrily, "and you, mister, are walking on very thin ice."
Cole shot her a teasing look and chuckled, "No, I am not. Who do you think messed up Clark's paperwork so he looked like a complete idiot during the last management meeting?"
"It was you?" Nicole uttered in disbelief.
"Well, I had to make sure that he could not steal my negotiating partner. Can't take any risks," his eyes swept over her and the intensity of his gaze made her body ignite.
"You are..." she whispered giving him a stern look and blushing at the same time.
He shot her a bright smile but it did not fade the desire in his eyes. Nicole shook her head to stop herself from falling under the power of his eyes.
"Stop it," she said shooting a stream of cold air into his face. "We need to finish this and we need to talk about other things." She gave him a meaningful look.
Cole closed his eyes for a moment. He did not know what was going on with him, but whenever he saw Nicole the only thing he wanted to do was to take her to some uninhabited island where they'd be away from the whole world. He took a deep breath and tried to get his thoughts back to work.
"Well, this contract is pretty much done," he said in a business tone. "So I think we should concentrate on other things. I did not enjoy Vladimir showing up in the Penthouse at seven in the morning enquiring about our progress. I think Lugels are getting impatient."
Nicole nodded, "Did you notice that he looked a bit..." she paused trying to find the right word, "anxious?"
Cole thought about it for a moment. "Yes, I had a feeling that he was completely stressed out when he blurred in. But then he came down and when he was asking all these questions he seemed to be not that worried about the answers."
"Anyway," Nicole pushed away her thoughts about Vladimir's strange behaviour away. "I think our next step should be with Leo. We need to get this part of the plan moving since I don't think your mother needs a lot of help!?"
Cole gave her displeased look, "If anything my mother needs to be kept an eye on. But I agree at the moment Leo is a priority," he scowled.
Nicole smiled, "You are not very keen on working with him?"
He gave her unhappy look, "I just know it's going to be a real pain. Leo used to be a nice guy and you could work with him. But ever since Prue died and especially after the whole Source story he became very subdued and lost all will power. He just trails behind the Charmed sisters and does whatever the Elders tell him."
"So what are we going to do?" Nicole asked seriously.
"I think all we can do is to talk to him. But I suggest you do most of the talking. Leo is extremely prejudiced against me. And if I open my mouth he is going to go onto the defensive and surround himself with spikes like a porcupine."
Nicole could not contain a chuckle, her imagination painting a vivid picture of the porcupine with Leo's face. She tried to sober up and asked, "Do you want me to go alone?"
"No," he shot with a speed of the bullet. "It's not safe for you to go alone."
Nicole gave him an annoyed look, "He is just a whitelighter, Cole. He can't really do anything to me."
The half demon's face remained serious, "Anybody can be a threat and Leo is not just a whitelighter, he's a Charmed Ones whitelighter," he said sternly. "We are going together, no discussions."
Nicole knew that it was pointless arguing with him. Part of her was touched by his concern. And another part was slightly annoyed that he did not trust her to do things on her own. But she did not want to pick a fight. Since they got back together last Sunday she was so overwhelmingly happy and she was well aware how fragile this happiness was.
"Fine," she answered curtly. "But we need to find a way to talk to Leo without the Charmed Ones or the Elders knowing and even suspecting anything."
Cole thought about it for a moment, "We need to get him when he's with one of his charges," he suggested. "The Elders would think he's been called by a witch, so would the Charmed Ones and we can talk to him freely."
"Sounds good," Nicole nodded approvingly, "but it would be better if it was somewhere abroad. Further away from the Halliwells. Do you know if Leo has any charges somewhere in Europe?"
"England," he answered straight away. "Leo definitely has a charge in London. I heard him complaining about the weather there."
"I am not surprised," Nicole smiled wryly. "You, Californians, are completely spoiled with the amount of sunshine you get."
"Or don't tell me that you would prefer London's weather," he retorted smiling, "I know you like sunshine otherwise you wouldn't be nagging me every evening to go for a walk to the beach?"
Nicole gave him a foul look and said, hiding a smile, "Okay, back to reality. How do we find Leo's charge? There are eight million people in London."
"You can read Leo's mind like you did it before. Then we'll get to the witch and convince her to call Leo."
"That's sounds like a good plan," Nicole nodded approvingly.
Cole's mouth twisted into a sarcastic smile, "According to the Powers to Be it's more of an evil plan."
In the afternoon Leo Wyatt was summoned to the Elder's Council. He orbed straight away and then had to wait for a while before they were ready to talk to him. There were a few other whitelighters waiting. The two of them Leo did not know. One was a woman in her late forties with dark hair and grey eyes. She had a very distant look and just nodded in response to his greeting. The man who stood not far from her was the same age as Leo and had blond hair and dark eyes. His head was bowed but his alert eyes were scanning the surroundings. Something in his manner of looking from under his eyebrows looked familiar to Leo but he could not remember where from. But whitelighter did not have time to muse over it, the Elders were ready to talk to him.
Shortly after Leo was summoned into the Council chambers the two whitelighters orbed out from the waiting hall. They reappeared in the luxury Penthouse. But instead of the dark haired woman who left the Elders realm, it was Nicole Berg who arrived to the Penthouse, and the blond haired man regained dark hair and piercing blue eyes belonging to Cole Turner.
"That was fun," Cole grimaced. "Now I understand Leo much better. If he has to spend so much time in such a sterile and boring atmosphere, no wonder, his mind has turned the same way. At least the Underworld was fun, with all the flames, caverns and darkness. "
Nicole grinned, "It's just your wicked mind," she told him trying to sound serious. "It does not allow you to appreciate the tranquillity of the Elders realm."
In response to her word Cole just laughed, "Oh, don't give me that," he said still chuckling. "You could not be faster in getting out of there. It's lucky that you don't have to become the Head Elder. You would be bored out of your brain being stuck there for months. Plus you would have to wear that dull white robe all day long and knowing your taste I can safely say it would have driven you up the wall."
"Watch it, Turner," Nicole gave him a warning look. "Because I can start commenting on the number of designer shirts in your wardrobe and it's way more than any self respecting heterosexual male could admit to."
The last word just escaped her mouth when she found herself being pressed against the wall. His mouth came down on hers and she completely lost herself in the passionate kiss, her hands wrapped around his shoulders. They broke apart almost gasping for air. "I don't think you are the one to doubt my sexual orientation," he whispered hoarsely, his lips just a millimetre away from her neck so his hot breath made her body shiver with desire. For a moment they both stared at each other and then a warm smile touched her lips. He replied with the same smile and gently kissed her cheek reluctantly pulling away from her.
Leo Wyatt just got home from his meeting with the Elders. They were again going on about the massive surge of powers that happened in front of the Penthouse two weeks ago. Leo was tired from this endless conversation. The Elders still did not know what it was and as far as he could see they had no way of finding out. Several times Leo suggested that they should try to find it out from Cole using some truth telling potion. But the Elders were completely against it as if they harboured some utterly irrational fear of him. Instead they insisted that the Charmed Ones look through the whole Book of Shadows trying to find power amplifying spells. Leo was summoned every day to report on the progress and he was getting completely fed up with it.
He was deep in these gloomy musings when he got home. He saw Piper standing in front of the cooker with a wooden spoon in her hand. Her belly started to really show and to Leo she never looked more beautiful in her life. When she heard the sound of his orbs she turned around and smiled at him. He gave her a kiss and breathed in the tasty smell of her cooking. He was really looking forward to a nice meal. Suddenly he heard the call of one of his charges and could not stop himself from cursing silently. So much for a nice meal and a quiet evening.
Piper knew the look on her husband's face. She was disappointed but not surprised when he gave her apologetic smile, "I am sorry, honey, I have to go. But I'll try be as soon as I can, promise."
She nodded and he orbed out. Piper returned to her cooking. Her face now expressing feelings the complete opposite of the calmness she radiated just a minute ago.
Leo orbed into his charge's apartment, "Helen," he called out and stopped mid sentence staring at two people in front of him.
"Hi Leo," Nicole greeted him calmly sitting in the comfortable chair next to the fireplace.
The whitelighter gaped at her and then turned to his ex brother-in-law who was looming on the mantel piece. "What did you do to her?" Leo demanded angrily directing his question to Cole, whose relaxed posture made Leo wish that he possessed at least some powers of his charges.
"She's just asleep on the couch in the next room," Nicole replied gently. "You can check if you want," she suggested, "she's your charge after all."
Leo concentrated for a moment. When he was sure enough that Helen was unharmed he turned to the couple in front of him and gave them a hard stare, "So what are you doing here?"
Nicole smiled, "We came to talk to you," she explained politely. "And we wanted to do it away from your family and your bosses, which made this place perfect."
"We have nothing to talk about," Leo snarled, his anger rising from the confidence, which these two radiated.
"Oh, yes, we do," Nicole disagreed. "And I think you should sit down because it will be a long talk."
The whitelighter hesitated.
"Leo," Nicole spoke up again. "I know there is a wide gap between us and you have many reservations. But we would not have come here without a very good reason. Important not only for us but for you as well."
Her voice sounded very sincere and under her steady gaze he set down in the chair shooting a weary glance towards Cole who so far had not said a word.
"Good," Nicole smiled. "What we are going to tell you is very secret and you have to promise that you won't tell anybody, even the Charmed Ones or your bosses."
"I will not promise anything like that," Leo shot.
"You have to," she insisted calmly. "There is too much at stake here and we can't risk you telling anybody. I can promise you that what I will tell you is not going to harm your family in any way or the Elders."
"How do I know you are not lying?" he asked warily.
His suspiciousness started to annoy her but she could not let him notice it. Nicole took a deep breath, "You'll just have to trust me," she replied simply. "I don't want to threaten you, Leo. It's not why we came here. But I have to tell you that I not only can read people's minds but also manipulate them and I can make sure that you won't remember a word from this conversation."
He stared at her with hateful eyes. Nicole inwardly sighed. It was not going well. It seemed that Leo hated not only Cole but everybody who was connected to him, in a true Halliwell style.
"Look, Leo," she continued, "Of course you can refuse to talk to us. But believe me you don't want this burden on your conscious. You are not risking lives by not telling anybody about our conversation. On the opposite you can save many lives by listening to us."
The whitelighter just sat there. Part of him wanted to orb out but the one look at his ex brother-in-law told him that he probably wouldn't be able to do it. Plus by staying he might be able to find out something about this surge of powers the Elders were so concerned about.
"I am listening," he said coldly, indicating that he agreed to their condition but it did not make him like them any better.
Cole had to concentrate really hard to hide the smile looking at Leo trying to hold his own against Nicole.
"Great," she nodded. "Then I'll start from the beginning. We are working for the Lugels. Have you heard about them?"
Leo's face turned pale and he stared at her in disbelief.
"I see you have," Nicole commented calmly. "As you probably know the Lugels' main aim is to protect the magic world from exposure and to maintain the balance of powers between good and evil. At the moment the magic world faces probably the greatest threat in all its history: the total extinction due to the efficiency, with which opposite sides have been killing each other. We've been hired to negotiate a peace deal between the good and the evil and this way to prevent further bloodshed. And we would like you to help us to achieve this goal."
Cole thoroughly enjoyed watching the whitelighter's expression changing from surprised to total shock then disbelief and at the end becoming completely confused. When Nicole finished it took Leo a long time to recover his ability to talk. He shook his head and said in a shaky voice. "This is ridiculous. At the moment with the Underworld in chaos the good finally has a chance to take an upper hand and defeat the evil forever."
Both Cole and Nicole rolled their eyes and the latter exclaimed, "Common, Leo, you cannot be serious. To defeat evil! You must know it's impossible. The good and the evil will always exist and one cannot defeat the other. And as long as they are in balance there will be no threat to the world. But if the balance is broken, that's when the real danger starts. The world is like a large old clock with evil on the left side and good on the right side. The further away the pendulum moves from the centre towards one of these sides, the further back it would swing next. And if the fluctuations are too large the clock will simply break. It would mean a complete chaos for the magic world. And very quickly the chaos will spread into the mortal world, completely ruining it."
She paused and Leo shook his head, "I don't know where you get these ideas," he finally said. "But even if all you told me is true, you should be talking about it with the Elders, not with me."
His words made Cole lose his patience, "For God's sakes, Leo," he said sternly, "stop being such a wimp. You can't just wallow in your guilt for the rest of your life because you could not safe Prue or prevent the whole Source fiasco. You need to move on and start taking responsibility for your actions. Become the true guardian angel, who is not scared to think for himself."
Leo's face reddened, "Well, at least some of us are able to feel guilt," he yelled standing up so his face was right in front of Cole. "I know that for you it's a totally unknown feeling. After everything you've done, all the blood and broken hearts on your hands! If you had any good in you, you would just have stayed dead."
Cole's eyes turned into two pieces of ice, "At least I have the courage to face my past and move on. But you and your precious charges will always hide your heads in the sand, blaming everybody but themselves for anything bad happening in your lives. Well, at least I am not your scapegoat anymore."
Leo's fist clenched and he tried to punch the half demon. But the latter just side stepped him and instead of Cole's face whitelighter's hand came in direct touch with the wall. The next moment Leo found himself back in the chair, Nicole Berg standing in front of him. She looked annoyed, "That's enough," she said sternly. "You don't trust us, that's fine. I expected that. But you seemed to completely lack the capacity to listen. And this leaves me no choice. I did not want to tell you this. Since I believe nobody deserves to live with such knowledge on their conscience. But your stupid stubbornness forces me to do it. I told you that helping us would not harm your family, actually quite the opposite. Well, now you'll see the proof of that for yourself."
She grabbed Leo's hand and the next moment he was drawn into what could only be a very powerful premonition. He saw the attic in the Halliwell Manor. Piper, Paige and Phoebe, all of them looking in their late forties were sitting around the Book of Shadows. A figure dressed in black hooded robe appeared in front of them. The three women looked horrified, they started chanting and several ghosts appeared behind them, in which he recognised the dead witches from the Halliwell line. The hooded figure started to glow and the next moment it raised both hands and the whole house started to shake. A large beam fell on Paige's head knocking her out. The ghosts disappeared and then the house collapsed in one massive explosion. The hooded figure hovered above the ruins for a moment and then disappeared in a swirl of blue lights. The whitelighter gasped and the image was replaced by another vision. He saw himself dressed in the Elder's robe, sitting among the remains of the house, his hands clasped around a lifeless body of a woman. The moon came out from behind the cloud and he could see her face. This time Leo could not take it. He twitched and pulled his hand out of Nicole's grasp. He buried his face in his hands. "Oh, no, not her, not Piper," he sobbed.
"I am sorry you had to see this Leo," Nicole voice sounded sympathetically.
"Who the hell was it?" the whitelighter lifted his head. "Who is this demon who is going to kill her?"
For a second Nicole paused, not wanting to deliver the final blow. Then she reminded herself what was at stake here, she gathered her strength and said quietly, "It will be your son, Leo. The one who'll be born in less than three months."